is this government using a calculator or pencil and paper?

Abacus.

Reading most of the responses, it seems everyone expects something to be given to them without expecting to pay it back. Any Government will only give away things that you pay for yourselves. Is this actually giving you anything? This is how the taxation system works. If you wish to pay less, what would you prefer to give up in order to fund it...Hospitals, GPs, Schools, Pensions?

Be realistic and come to terms with things as they are. No Government is perfect and we have just forgotten the longest period in our history of sustained economic growth. How quick we are to forget.

The current situation is not of this Government's making and is not confined to just the UK. The problems have been caused by greedy banks being even greedier and irresponsible lending. The reason the banks were allowed to get away with it in the UK is because the last Conservative Government removed all their controls over banks and they have resisted any interference ever since. Look what a mess that has got us into.

Don't forget also that this Country's Press is basically a Conservative Press and subtly control how we think. The Conservatives are the only ones who think the budget was wrong. All the other experts say different, but whose ideas do we read in the papers?

For fuel, drink and cigarettes, they have increased the duty to compensate for the drop in vat, food is exempt anyway, so it' s down to what little else we buy.........and it is not law for these people to drop their prices....Yes the vat has to be 15% but the shops do not need to drop any prices accordingly.

Personally I think most things will remain the same and then everything will go up in 13 months time!

Ho! Ho! Ho! :o(

I think they are so busy quoting huge numbers and playing party poliotics that they have missed a real opportunity. Increasing personal allowances by £1000 would have given a feel good factor to encourage folks to spend, as would raising stamp duty threshold to £250000 and removing/reducing VAT on household improvements and repairs.

Now you make me think about this one

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And so early in the morning too like 6:02am est

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But come to think about it I think I have seen them guys on the boob tube that are from the government addition department

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Kind of doing it the 10 finger counting way

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Get past 10 and good luck

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That is why 700 billion got such a hard start they had a hard time explaining how many fingers and thumbs that is

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They had to use frazzes like all those or these people would hold up there hands like this and there are this many of them in the ball park

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The government doesn't have the brains to work out how to use a calculator, nor to work it out on paper.

They appear to be under the impression that getting us into more debt will solve the problem - which was caused by debt. They also seem to think that taking 20p off of the price of clothes and food is going to make people spend more. They're far more likely to use the extra money to pay off their thousands of pounds of credit card debt/mortgage....

You make an assumption that I doubt is valid: that they can count.

Just like the assumption that they are the party of the worker and the poor.

Champagne socialists and millionaire ministers are to busy wallowing in the sound of their money growing whilst the workers suffer.

How stupid do they 'think we are', well they told you your taxes will go up and your standard of living will fall but in Blackburn, Manchester, Birmingham, London and the North people will still vote for them, that is how stupid they think we are.

Neither, they are using the "Magic 8 Ball" Paulson, Obama, and Bernanke all take turns shaking it before the next news conference.

A Teletubbies "count with Tinky Winky" game.

Think they use an abacus and fingers and even then spend the rest of the day scratching their heads